


Shade of My Enemy

by StudioRat



Series: Winds of Twilight [6]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Blood Magic, Blood and Injury, Colonialism, Dark Magic, Digital Art, Drama & Romance, Elemental Magic, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fan Comics, Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst, Goblins, Graphic Novel, Implied Sexual Content, Magical Artifacts, Monsters are people too, Multi, Post-Betrayal, References to Illness, Sleepy Kisses, Slow Burn, Tags May Change, Temporary Character Death, Transformation, Trust Issues, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-01-23 02:03:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 8,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21312370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StudioRat/pseuds/StudioRat
Summary: Two kingdoms, both alike in dignity -A long-forgotten war returns to plauge fair Hyrule, reviving ancient enmities and dangerous powers.The mageborn monarch of Twilight escapes her would-be assassin and seeks among the light-dwellers of Hyrule for a Champion.A cursed princess and a fallen king must find common ground before the cruelty of the usurper can destroy both worlds-
Relationships: Ganondorf/Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Ganondorf/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Series: Winds of Twilight [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/442912
Comments: 7
Kudos: 25





	1. Dice

**Author's Note:**

> Ok I am trying something a little different folks. I have this comic, that I've been writing for a long time. I'm getting close to 100 pages drawn.  
But Ao3 can't host images and I don't want to bog their server down anyway.  
Tumblr was its main home, but As You May Know Bob, it has issues(tm). The masterpost is so broken I can't even.  
So What if. We post the pages here...?  
Let's try.  

> 
> * * *
> 
> Shade of My Enemy carries a trigger warning for violence, similar in severity to the Zelda canon in general and Twilight Princess in particular. Also contains allusions to canonical character deaths. All sections to which additional trigger warnings apply will be signalled in the chapter notes.  
If you see something that you think ought to be tagged, just let me know!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zant seeks the god of chaos, the King of Demons... and finds the Demon King instead.

_ Whosoever fears to be conquered is certain to be defeated. - Napoleon _

**Volume 1**  
**_Chapter 1 : Dice_**

Page 1

_ Once upon a time, neither as long ago nor far away as you might at first imagine, a storm gathered in the cursed realm of Twilight. A treacherous royal steward, thwarted in his attempts to gain access to the powerful magics of his masters, seeks to steal the power of a dead god for his own… _

Page 2

_ With forbidden fragments of ancient lore and artifacts stolen from the world of Light, Zant cast his spells into the void… _

Page 3

_ Zant’s spell uncovers a well of Power hidden deep in the heart of Twilight, where the void was first ripped asunder to divide Light and Shadow forever… _

Page 4

_Imprisoned in that void waits Ganondorf, called the Demon King, chosen to bear a great and terrible Power. Severed from his land and people, he siphons ambient spirit energy from the misery of the Twili…_

The spiral translation spell reads as follows:  
_ Hear Twili - Speak Geld’o - By my will - Ganondorf, protector of Geld’o _

The central inscription, under the crescent-and-triple-ray shielded seeking spell, which is itself flanked by symbols of spirit, and truth-eyes:  
_Hear me, spirits, Twili and Geldo, dead and forsaken!_  
_ Let misery become strength - injustice, power!_  
_ Rage of the lost and damned, gather in me_  
_ Name me your Champion and I will devour the guilty_  
_ By my will - Ganondorf son of the desert_

Voices brought by the spells:

  * There is no food! Why won’t the Princess authorize a raiding party?
  * Never reveal yourself on a raid ! The lightworlders are greedy and violent by nature, base savages. They would invade at once if they knew for certain we still lived, and slay us all for sport.
  * The lightworlders worship false gods, speaking for them like a mummer for a puppet-!
  * Do not go to the western ruins - the lightworlders camps there are vulnerable,, but there is a terrible, ugly monster with strange, strong magic chained there, sent by the lightworlders
  * Hear well the story, my children, of how the light hates us, lest you ever be tempted to cross the veil…
  * Forced to keep company with their dead is bad enough, now their criminals as well?
  * I, Zant, call forth He Who Stands Against the Light

Page 5

_ Ganondorf’s elaborate spells ensnare the attentions of Zant’s ensorcelled minions, providing him a conduit to their master… _

Page 6

_ The treacherous servant unwittingly lays his ambitions before a counterfeit god. The dice tumble across the tapestry of fate… _


	2. Dependence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Volume I : Chapter 2 - Dependence

Page 7

_Ganondorf waited._

Page 8

_ Zant seized rule over the Twili with his borrowed power, but he remained unsatisfied.  
Ganondorf waited. _

Page 9

_ Confident in his borrowed power and the ethereal chains binding its source, Zant attempted to ensnare the Crown Princess of Twili, Midna.  
The imprecise spells of the usurper caught in the twist of the laws of contagion, similarity, and reflection. Guided by a subtle but unshakeable will, the portal reversed its draw - and cloaked its master. _

Page 10

_ Power calls to power, and parts to the whole, in spite of knowledge or will. Undaunted by the failure of his first attempt to feed Midna to his god, Zant tapped directly into his borrowed shard of dreadful power… _

Page 11

_ Bound by the power he shared, Ganondorf is forced to challenge Midna for sovereignty of Twilight in his sacred spirit form… _

Page 12

_ Twilight accepts Ganondorf’s claim, and through the divided power binding master and servant, Zant gains the ability to shape the land and its people.  
Uninterested in the question of why one spell meets failure and the other success, Zant turns his avarice toward the world of Light - for vengeance, for lust, and to placate the hunger of minions and gods… _


	3. The Cost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Volume I : Chapter 3 - The Cost

Page 13

_Through the power of shadows he conquered in Twilight, the bandit king returns to the desert that was stolen from him._

* * *

_Undaunted by the necromantic constructs and bloody history of the haunted arbiter's grounds, the king reclaims the life that was taken from him._

* * *

Page 15

_At length, the king arms himself for war, and emerges from the depths of the ruins to take command of the blin armies dwelling in the haunted wasteland that was once his home._

* * *

Page 16

_The king leads his army into a Hyrule devastated by Zant's invasion. The frozen headwaters in Zoraland plunged the lands below into killing drought, and the people have become as spirits, haunting the places where the twilight overtook them._

* * *

Page 17

_Few places in Hyrule lay in deeper twilight than the capital._

* * *

Page 18

_In the heart of a decimated, endarkened Hyrule, a mysterious woman retreats at the sight of another foreign intruder. Ganondorf flies through the shadows to cut off her escape..._

_...the mark of the gods resonates within each of them..._


	4. Trade-Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Volume I : Chapter 4 - Trade Off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be going back to add alt image text. It is a lot of hours to do, and I would rather get the archive up now and go back. If someone wants to volunteer to draft panale-by-panel description, I will HAPPILY accept assistance.

Page 19

_Ganondorf confronts his old enemy... but she does not recognize **him**..._

* * *

Page 20

_...Zelda throws a little shade of her own at the intruder in her castle, pointing out the spirit-forms of her people._

* * *

Page 21

_Ganondorf is unimpressed by how easily the Hylian armies fell before Zant's invasion... Zelda is unimpressed by the towering jerk challenging her management of the invasion._

* * *

Page 22

__

_Two monarchs bereft of their countries trade barbs and cryptic silences in the twilight. Zelda defends her decision to surrender - and Ganondorf hints at grievances of his own against Zant. He shifts his focus to acquiring tactical intelligence..._

* * *

Page 23

_Zelda agrees to lead him to the remains of the Royal Archives, but cannot resist a sarcastic barb or two regarding the ruined state of her castle. The frustrated, blood-bound sovereign rulers get in a passive-aggressive magical pissing contest in a ruined stairwell, and Ganondorf makes clear his intent to oppose Zant's dominion and take the Hylian throne for himself by right of bearing the Mark of the Chosen of the Gods._

* * *

Page 24

_Ganondorf demands Zelda precede him into what remains of the royal archives... which **just so happen** to be lit by a complex array of curiously familiar snake mirrors amplifying the natural light..._


	5. Blind

Page 25

_Zelda misunderstands his fixation on the ancient snake mirrors as curiosity... and is baffled by his rage, his accusations of theft and murder..._

* * *

Page 26

_Zelda begs for an explanation. Ganondorf's fury at the looting of the mirrors from the Spirit Temple only rises, and he accuses her of lying even as she scrambles to persuade him it is a mistake, that the exotic antique mirrors were a coronation gift from **long ago**..._

* * *

Page 27

_Zelda begs for understanding or forgiveness or peace, as Ganondorf still stands frozen in shock, holding her (almost) helpless in the air. At last, he releases her with a bitter sneer about her betrayal and walks away. Zelda scrambles to understand, and to persuade him that she has honored the terms of her surrender to Zant..._

* * *

Page 28

_Ganondorf sneers in contempt at her prayers for a hero... and reflects bitterly on the price Hyrule's "peace" exacted from him. Zelda demands to know who he is, but the name and epithets he recites are unknown to her. Ganondorf studies a map of Hyrule, struggling with the bitter truth that he has not only lost his country, his people, his time, but his entire existence has been forgotten..._

* * *

Page 29

_ _

_Zelda seeks to understand the bitter stranger... and when he clarifies his opposition to Zant's rule, she seizes on his words in hope - but he only mocks her and refuses her tentative suggestion of alliance..._

* * *

Page 30

_Zelda snaps at him in temper, awakening the crystal lamp beside him with her Light Magic... paraphrasing an ancient proverb about war: "To engage battle half-armed is foolish; to engage war thus is the height of treason." In shock, he turns, and demands to know where she learned that **particular** turn of phrase..._

* * *


	6. Predicted

Page 31

_Zelda takes a turn at contempt, citing the proverb as old and common. Out of her sight, Ganondorf crumples the map, coldly demanding more explanation. Zelda sneers - until her own scholarly enthusiasm for the Discourses distracts her into a search for the oldest copy, rambling about the curiosity of military theory delivered in epistolary form... as Ganondorf watches in stunned silence..._

* * *

Page 32

_Zelda continues to wax enthusiastic about the book, confessing it to be a favorite. The cover is blazoned with the Hylian crest flanked by heraldic lions, and the full title is Discourses : On the Nature of War, and the Governance of a Fair State. Zelda begins to direct him to the letter the quote originates from, but he turns to the latter part of the book and finds it first. _

_The open page reads:_

> Dear ——–,   
I will not waste your time or mine on those flowery professions of courtesy your court indulges. The prime argument in your last letter is impressive for its spirit, but is in nearly every point wrong.
> 
> Of course power is both terrible and dangerous. That is the material point. Nor is it tame. To harness power, you must first possess it. In order to possess it you must first embody it. Nor can you afford to indulge debate in this: without it, you will fall. The question of when remains open, but irrelevant, for the end is certain so long as you continue in this misbegotten habit.
> 
> The tutors responsible for planting such ridiculous ideas in your head deserve an intimate acquaintance with the barbaric horsewhip your people employ.
> 
> Even in the miraculous event that you should draft a law which is in every respect morally perfect, your work will be in vain so long as you lack the energy and conviction to enforce it. You can toil for generations to lift individual souls into harmony with your law, and still those with the power to follow their own interests where they diverge from law will do so.
> 
> Power answers to power. If you would shape the world to your desire, you must first acquire the power to do so, and the courage to wield it. So long as you indulge these weak, sentimental notions of the supreme virtue of life without respect to its qualities or purpose, power will never answer to you.
> 
> Your analogy with regard to a blooded sword is correct, but insufficient. It does not follow that because blades are by design instruments of death that they must therefore bathe in blood. Ask the head of your guard the fate of a sword thus handled - if they do not answer that it rusts away to nothing, end them at once with the one they bear.
> 
> Conflict is both inevitable and necessary - war is but a dramatic manifestation of this principle where one or more sides cannot or will not yield. If you truly wish to avoid applying the sword for its final purpose, you will hone both blade and arm to fearsome degree.
> 
> Taking law and upright conduct as your sole weapon for the sake of tradition is admirable only for its patriotism. You are already familiar with my opinion on that point. To engage battle half-armed is foolish. To engage war thus is the height of treason. 
> 
>   
Make no mistake, ——– if the House of ——— continues to reject this truth out of misplaced notions of moral superiority, it will fall. Place the blame for the disaster, if the word will permit such abuse, upon the heads most responsible for its cause. Do not condemn the blade, but the weak heart which refuses to draw it.
> 
> I will not shrink from necessity - but nor will I waste life and effort where a better path lays ready. You need this alliance.
> 
> Wit.Rgs-

_Ganondorf demands to know the author - perhaps of the letter, perhaps of the book - and Zelda confesses the exact hand is disputed, but attributed to Queen Zelda Windblade... an ancestor..._

* * *

Page 33

_As Ganondorf stares at the "letter", Zelda confesses it is not merely a favored, but a **favorite** book, and wistfully regrets its advice wasn't enough to preserve Hyrule. She speaks of drought, wildfires, the withdrawing of the Zora diplomats, and plague preceding Zant's march on Hyrule Castle. Ganondorf connects her regrets to the water surveys showing the northern tributaries diminishing first, seeking to track the chain of disasters to their source..._

* * *

Page 34

_Together, they dig deep into the surviving records and maps, studying the fall of Hyrule and planning their opposition..._

* * *

Page 35

_Ganondorf gives orders to King Bulblin and the other blins as Zelda continues her share of research. When he brings her another book and finds her asleep over her papers, he gently wakes her and guides her away from the work, his triforce resonating and his spirit wounds bright. He stands alone as the blins escort her out..._

* * *

Page 36

_...and Ganondorf returns to his work. He vents his anger at the books and papers, struggling to anticipate Zant's next move from what they've learned of his advance. When he subsides into solitary brooding, he opens the Discourses to read the letters collected in it..._

* * *


	7. Markedly

Page 37

_Time passes. _

_Ganondorf attends his mount in the open stables of the castle, the upper plate armor set aside as he works. The Triforce resonates painfully as Zant draws on its power - and therefore, its bearer. His loyal watchblins watch in confusion as he collapses._

* * *

Page 38

_The blins debate what to do about Ganondorf's collapse... and how to keep King Bulblin from seeing it._

* * *

Page 39

_Later, Ganondorf uses the Twilight magic to move himself to the stairwell of the Princess' tower. Now cloaked and in full armor, he opens her doors without preamble... to find her half-dressed, wrapped in a blanket, brooding at the window... and already aware the Twilight has claimed more Hylian territory. Ganondorf dismisses the minor loss and deflects her concern, distracted by the revelation of strange fractal markings on her exposed skin..._

* * *

Page 40

_Ganondorf demands to know the origin and duration of the naevi. Zelda grudgingly confesses an ally mitigated the consequence of plague and fever with the markings. Ganondorf studies their pattern, unsettled, and oddly concerned about the marks being known to anyone else..._

* * *

Page 41

_Zelda hunches under the dark cloth as Ganondorf speculates the windy tower exacerbates her condition. He demands she relocate - and is surprised by her ardent refusal and insistence on duty._

* * *

Page 42

_Ganondorf insists... mocking her claim of indifference to the cold, drafty tower... and retreats in anger when that tactic backfires..._

* * *


	8. Genesis (part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> content warning for sleepy makeouts.

Page 43

_Time passes._

_Zelda prepares for dinner, braiding her hair and donning a particolored, high-waisted evening gown with a distinctive water pattern on the asymmetrical panels and cape. Two blins escort her through the halls, rather than the four previously assigned to her... and they find lights still burning in the library as they pass. Zelda finds Ganondorf asleep over his work... and notices twilight portals marked on the map of Hyrule..._

* * *

Page 44

_Zelda moves Ganondorf's hand, but he does not awaken. She investigates the map and papers, unsettled by the similarity of the portal notations to markings on **Midna**. Her study is interrupted by Ganondorf wrapping an arm around her hips and pulling her close... without waking..._

* * *

Page 45

_Ganondorf pulls Zelda into his lap, holding her in his sleep. She tries to gently urge him to awaken and move to a real bed... he responds groggily to only 'bed' and 'tickle' with a sleepy - and mischievous chuckle, sinking in the throne. Embarrassed and surprised, Zelda tries vainly to reason with him s his sleepy embrace grows more bold - and intimate. She warns him the dress is delicate..._

* * *

Page 46

_...with some perhaps inevitable results. He mumbles her name and groggy 'threats', humming in pleasure as he rips her dress to shreds. She shrieks in shock, startling the drowsy blin guards. Halfhorn rushes to her aid - but to her embarrassment, upon seeing the true circumstance-? **Congratulates her conquest.**_

* * *


	9. Intervention

Page 47

_A third blin guard rushes to defend the Princess from imagined danger as Halfhorn leaves Ganondorf and Zelda to each other's company. Halfhorn assures them none of the twilight-changed have breached the wards - and fishnet loudly declares their approval of the tryst. Halfhorn ushers them out to defend the monarchs' privacy..._

* * *

Page 48

_The blins argue over the situation: whether or not to intervene, whether or not to trust Zelda alone with their King, and how to keep the knowledge of the escalation of their affair from Bulblin..._

* * *

Page 49

_The argument continues, Halfhorn defending the monarchs' need for each other's company, Fishnet concerned for possible treachery, and Blackscarf desperate to defend both the princess and Ganondorf's strength._

* * *

Page 50

_Fishnet struggles to reconcile their orders with the shift in the nature of the monarchs' alliance... and Blackscarf defends Zelda's continued preference for living in her tower against his king's wish._

* * *

Page 51

_Fishnet and Blackscarf question their orders and purpose further as the muffled voices in the library escalate, and Halfhorn scrambles to pacify them._

* * *

Page 52

_Halfhorn insists the king is fully capable of amending his orders if he wanted them to change anything. _

_Time passes._

_Song filters through the door. **Blackscarf** now harbors treasonous doubts about Zelda's influence on the king..._

* * *


	10. Genesis (part 2)

Page 53

_Time passes._

_We return to the library to find Zelda breathless, wearing little more than regency-style stays and petticoat, surrounded by rags of the wave-patterned cloth, and a little bit in shock about what happened between them instead of dinner. Ganondorf, however, has dropped back into deep slumber... in her lap. _

* * *

Page 54

_Exasperated, Zelda uses her Light magic to retreat from the library. Her sudden absence makes for a rude, painful, and confusing awakening, as Zelda swears three surprised watchblins to silence._

* * *

Page 55

_Alone in her tower, Zelda chuckles over the ruin of her gown... and jokes to herself in the mirror about his 'proposal'._

_Time passes._

_Belatedly, she considers the conciliatory honorific 'my king' in the context of the library incident and her own private jest. Meanwhile, Ganondorf ... alone in the library... groans about **something**... _

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... and thus closes Volume 1-!


	11. Stage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And volume 2 begins-!

Page 56

_Time passes._

_Alone in his rooms, Ganondorf pours a small measure of water from a sealed bottle into a bowl with a Gerudo pattern. He cups water in his hands to lave his face, and broods at his own reflection in silence. He is barely dressed in breeches and shirt. His triforce marking glows, and his spiritscar is the primary source of light. A curl-haired blin interrupts him with a report of a captures beast. Ganondorf tugs his shirt over the spiritscar and binds his hair with his back still turned to his blin subordinate._

* * *

Page 57

_Ganondorf grumbles about the general effects of the Twilight as he pulls his arming coat on, but his subordinate cautions him not to dismiss the report. Ganondorf pauses, and the blin continues their report, revealing the unit sent into Ordon village was ordered to evacuate it, and the beast followed, collapsing on the road in his efforts. Both the triforce and the spiritscar continue to shine brightly as Ganondorf closes the coat and dons his crown._

* * *

Page 58

_Ganondorf grabs the spiritsword, restoring the rest of his armor by magic as he follows the blin to the castle dungeons... to find the wolf bears the spirit of a man. He orders the blins to alert him with the wolf awakens._

* * *

Page 59

_Ganondorf speaks with his blin officers and King Bulblin in their language - but he is interrupted by another painful flare of the Triforce. He orders everyone to leave and resume the hunt for the relic as he curses Zant and covers the Triforce._

_Time passes._

_He stands on the castle walk, brooding over the loss of Ordon Woods... and the light coming from the Princess' tower._

* * *

Page 60

_Ganondorf moves himself to the landing outside Zelda's door, shedding his cape by magic. He strides into the empty room, hailing her by title. He finds a book open on her desk: Proper Care and Management of the Lake Country Estate, (which he was reading at the beginning of [Hearts at War....](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6559366)) She returns to the bedchamber from a side room, as surprised by his presence as he by her reading. He makes a jest about the boring and ill-informed text, seemingly dismissing it as some derivative work..._

* * *

Page 61

_Zelda laughs, confessing the interest and comfort it holds for her is in the marginalia... which is all Gerudo script. He tentatively prods for more, distracted from his original purpose by a fluency in his language sufficient to not only decipher but enjoy the notations. He stares, speechless, as she leans against the mantle, talking about the prolific marginalia in the Royal Archives and her wistful opinion of a dying language... and the distinctive voice in the scattered inscriptions with something more than scholarly passion. He drifts closer, book dangling from his hand, forgotten, as she alludes to a theory that the unknown commentator and the hand behind the "Prince" voice in the Discourses might have been one and the same..._

* * *

Page 62

_Ganondorf hesitantly asks how she learned to read it - but as she explains about studying antique Gerudo schoolbooks, and her talent for language... she faints. Ganondorf catches her, nonplussed. After a moment, he carries her to the bed and begins to tuck her under the blankets fully clothed._

* * *


	12. Infiltrated

Page 63

_Ganondorf hesitates. Concerned for the cloak winding around Zelda's throat in her sleep, he moves to unclasp it... and suffers a flashback to unclasping royal jewels from a rumpled princess biting her lip in anticipation. He drops the clasp and cloak at once, murmuring denial, demanding retreat of himself, swearing **never**..._

* * *

Page 64

_Time passes._

_Ganondorf hunches over maps and papers, alone in a dim room with one of the crystal Hylian lamps. Halfhorn interrupts to report the wolf escaped - and Ganondorf's first order is to secure the tower as he wraps himself in Twilight magic._

* * *

Page 65

_Twilight-changed monsters swarm over the castle walls. Blin archers behind lattice-like shields loose a fresh volley - but at least one breaks through and fells a defender._

* * *

Page 66

_Ganondorf stands on the castle wall, spinning more shields of Light - and Twilight. Midna appears behind him, laughing and taunting him. He seems surprised she is behind the Twilight-changed attacking his position, but he still warns her of danger in the shard of Fused Shadow she wears - which he knows as the Helm of the VeilWalker. She dismisses his warning and threatens him further..._

* * *

Page 67

_They trade insults, and Midna hints that she knows far more about him than he's revealed to anyone. He dismisses her warning about Zant turning on his master - and she boasts about subjugating Lightworld denizens even as she reveals knowing that he cast the portal that allowed her to escape Zant's malice. She assumes he has enslaved Zelda, and taunts him about assumed disobedience..._

* * *

Page 68

_...then insinuates a threat to the vulnerable Hylian Princess, tricking him into revealing attachment and concern in his shaking hand and demand to know what Midna has done. Midna only laughs, casts a portal, and taunts him with a broken chain and shackle, declaring he is too late. He notices the bloody wolf track, muttering a horrified denial..._

* * *


	13. Seed

Page 69

_Ganondorf bursts into the Princess' tower without preamble, sword still sheathed but grasped in his left hand, demanding to know where the wolf is. His spirit scar shines bright through the crack in his breastplate. Zelda attempts to deflect his rage, hiding her tears and the twilight naevi, but at last admits the wolf has already left..._

* * *

Page 70

_Ganondorf demands to know what the wolf witnessed, and if he harmed her. In Zelda's silent hesitation, he crosses the room to lift her chin and push back the cowl of her dark cloak. He seems concerned to discover her tears, but she pulls away at once in anger. She grieves for the loss of her country and throne - but declares she is already blood-bound to the land, its health reflected in her body. He roars in denial... and captures her tight to his chest, still grimacing, his Triforce mark shining._

* * *

Page 71

_Zelda begs Ganondorf to set aside his anger, and trust in the wolf and her mysterious ally. She assures him she masked the curse naevi in their presence, and that they seek the fused shadow shards in her name. Ganondorf doubts and distrusts them, pushing Zelda away to arm's length as he warns her of possible disaster if they question her. She reaches for him, desperately trying to persuade him to trust, and he captures her wrist, rebuking her for distraction..._

* * *

Page 72

_Though Ganondorf releases her hands, he lifts his own as a barrier, and allows his fingers to trail down her cloak as he renews his vow to restore Hyrulee - and warns her the Twilight fever is affecting her judgment. She insists it has not and vainly tries to persuade him that seeking comfort in touch is innocent. He interrupts her, cringing and pulling away - but she boldly grasps the Gerudo-patterned pectoral cloth draped across his armor..._

* * *

Page 73

_...and kisses him passionately. _

_He holds her tight, yet hesitates in the kiss..._

* * *

Page 74

_The scene shifts to an elaborate vaulted room with a raised platform reminiscent of the Hall of Judgement. The room is rendered as a study, and the crowd is shadowed, faceless. Alone among them, a young royal dressed in a blend of court attire and dress armor moves toward the back of the room. His long ornamented and fringed cloak hangs from his shoulders and trails on the stones behind him._

_He is dark-skinned adorned with bright cosmetics, and his dark fitted coat is ornamented with toothed patterns and triangles that echo designs in Ganondorf's armor. His bright hair is elaborately dressed in seven formal twists and anchored by a large spiked and jeweled hoop. The plate greaves and pectoral cloth exactly match those Ganondorf wears in the current era, and his brow gem is mounted on the same base, though he wears the rayed hair ornament without the adjoining minish-chain or skull plate. before_

_He smiles._

_A crowned woman descends curving stairs at the back of the room, dressed in an old-fashioned, highly structured court mantua with a long ruffled train, carrying a jeweled chalice. She is beautiful, though she does not smile in return. She is pale, her hair dressed in ringlets and a complex weave of sweep and fall, accented with a rose. Her crown has one central jewel and flourishes, her heavy sculpted pectoral links to sculpted pauldrons worn over her partlet. It is the same jewelry Ganondorf remembered, and the ornate girdle-cloth hanging over her full skirts from her moon-like segmented belt bears the Hylian royal crest, the Triforce crest, a single "key" glyph reminiscent of Twilight arcana, and various sinuous ornaments which echo designs in Ganondorf's ornamented armor._

_She holds the chalice in clear offering, and the Trifoce crest appears around her as in holy idols..._

* * *


	14. Harvest

Page 75

_In the fog of memory, the crisp image of a younger Ganondorf climbs into the stone stairwell at the back of the ballroom to meet the Princess. He accepts the jeweled goblet in his left hand with a smile, and takes her right hand for a courtly kiss.The memory remains silent as they talk - and he drinks from the goblet. She presses close to him, leaning against his raised knee in a suggestive manner. The heel of his boot slips off the edge of the step, and despite her efforts to right the goblet, wine spills on her white skirts. It is viscous where it drips down the stair, but Ganondorf's face is lifted and his eyes are closed as she kisses his neck. His cosmetics smear as she catches his lower lip again. He slides his cheek beside hers to whisper something as she licks his throat. He is smiling, his bright eyes creased in genuine happiness._

* * *

Page 76

_In the present, Ganondorf breaks the kiss and pushes Zelda away with a tremor in voice and hands. He cradles her face as she stammers in confusion, trying to reconcile his refusal with his previous passion in the library - which he confesses he'd dismissed as a dream. She urges him to embrace the fantasy, pulling him down for another kiss. He warns her that dreams end, even as he cradles her jaw and his expression softens. He returns her kiss with passion..._

* * *

Page 77

_...but the memory intrudes again. He still holds the wine at a negligent angle, spilling more on her skirts. The light seems to grow more dim with every passing moment. He wrinkles the satin as he pulls her tight, though he hisses the bridge of her nose tenderly. His intoxication grows more evident as she whispers something in his ear and coyly pulls away, resuming her course down the stairs. He watches her sweep past him with a quiet grin, drinking more of the wine. Shadows gather behind him, sharp eyes and bright blades in hand, hidden behind Sheikah magic symbols. The Princess glances over her shoulder, biting her lip in ambivalence. Ganondorf drinks more of the wine and follows, evidently unaware of the shadows following - or the one waiting for him at the foot of the stair wearing a distinctive dagged cloak._

Page 78

_Ganondorf winds a fist in Zelda's hair, locking his other hand under her jaw as he jerks back in sudden alarm. He shoves her away, shouting accusations of treachery. He pulls away, swearing he will resist her attempt to seduce him. She snaps in return, denying any enmity or ulterior motive. She accuses him in turn of being afraid the Twilight naevi might be contagious, and in her tirade about rightful sovereignty, hints that the true nature of the curse is bound up in her connection to the land of Hyrule. He snarls in fury at another quotation from the Discourses \- with a quote of his own. She objects, but he cuts her off with a roar..._

* * *

Page 79

_Past and Present travel side by side as their argument escalates. She defends Hyrule as a land of peace, and seems to accuse him of villainy and violence in a remembered bedchamber as well as the present tower bedroom His present rage blurs with a memory of his younger self venting the same fury about Hylian imperialism, racism, and theocracy in a room with ornate, foreign architecture. A memory of Sheik with a dagger bared in some cave blends with Zelda's present fury - they both demand to know the details he so often avoids. Memory shows A younger Zelda dressed in Gerudo fashion, carrying a literal windblade on their back, condemning him as unrighteous. They stand in a blurry Gerudo chamber as he turns away in the present Princess' Tower, accusing her of equal if not greater corruption._

* * *

Page 80

_Even as he sneers about her religious status and her gift of prophecy, declaring himself chosen of the gods, king by divine right - he admits her to be beautiful, cunning, elegant, and headstrong... and says he fights two wars for her, with an aside in his mother tongue about both steel and flesh. He accuses her of ambushing him to thwart both, and over her objections rejects their informal alliance, declaring they have always been enemies. She accuses him of madness - he taunts her and vows not to allow her that close again as her anger subsides into hurt. Though his farewell is sarcastic, that he bothers with manners at all is curious..._

* * *


	15. Design

Page 81

_Ganondorf storms away from the Princess' tower, and commands her guards to lock the doors behind him. He decrees no Hylian - especially descended from the royal House of Red Lions may be trusted. The blin guards are confused by his order, but the King retreats to the throne room without any further word..._

* * *

Page 82

_The blin guards debate how to tell the Princess of her confinement, and struggle to understand the will and desire of their king who growls at the woman he kissed. Blackscarf meets Zelda on the tower stairs as she descends to gather water from a well under the gardens. She is not surprised by Ganondorf's order, but asks Blackscarf to fill the bottle for her and to find a second for washing her hair. He is shocked by her kind manner and affectionate touch, and leaves the tower half in love with her..._

* * *

Page 83

In silence, Ganondorf dissolves his cloak and armor into shadows as he draws the spirit sword. Dressed simply in boots, trousers, and linen shirt, he creates a working circle and begins a powerful spell written in his native language:

> _by my will and by my hand, before the gods of light I stand_
> 
> _as I so will it, it shall be done_
> 
> _this my design shall now become_
> 
> _guard this place by blood I mark_
> 
> _let none here pass who seek to harm..._

Page 84

_In silence, Ganondorf weaves his elaborate shield of movement and magic and spiritblood in the throne room of Hyrule Castle... but closer study reveals the angry king bears silent tears as he completes the seal:_

> _By my Will and by my Blood_
> 
> _No work of man nor magic may break it._

* * *

Page 85

_Once again armored and cloaked, even to his stole of white wolfos fur, Ganondorf descends through the castle. Blackscarf is arguing with elaborately coiffed bokoblins in a storeroom. Ganondorf seems amused even as he demands an explanation, and Curls accuses Blackscarf of stealing bottles. He confesses the Princess' request... and the king swears in Geld'o. He commands a unit to fetch healthful hotspring water from Eldin, declaring the well water not good enough for royalty, though he mutters aside he needs it for the Zora prince. He overrules Curls' objection, and demands a report on the relocation of the Ordon village children. Blackscarf is deeply confused by his contradictory orders, and speaks of Zelda's quiet tears..._

* * *

Page 86

_Ganondorf continues down to the castle dungeons. The sound of his heavy boots awakens the peasant girl in the cell neighboring the unconscious Zora Prince Ralis in his water-filled trough, and she sneaks close to the wall to overlisten the sorcery of her captor..._


	16. Gleaning

Page 87

_Blackscarf returns to the Princess' tower in defeat. He tells Halfhorn and Fishnet the King's frightening order to bring water all the way from Eldin, and confesses his dread of confessing it to Zelda. They climb the tower together to assure she understands the refusal of water comes from the King and not from them... and overhear her reviewing significant letters in the Discourses. She is more certain than ever that Ganondorf was the author of the letters which became the semi-fictional "Prince" of that treatise, but she sets aside her study to hear her guards' faithful report..._

* * *

Page 88

_The way they phrase the order catches her attention and she demands an exact recounting. It does not occur to any of them that granting her request could be seen as treason. Blackscarf nervously delivers in explicit detail in his language, while Halfhorn struggles to translate. Zelda latches onto the reported Geld'o profanity - a language long thought dead. She asks how long since he conquered the bulblins and bokoblins, but the blins are confused by her question. They explain that he has been their king for a long time, and their peoples awaited his return. They see him as the rightful king of light and shadow. No Hylian history records a sorcerer-king. Zelda asks to hear more stories of their glorious king..._

* * *

Page 89

_Meanwhile, in the dungeons, Ganondorf's magic fails to revive the Zora Prince. He mutters to himself and the unconscious Zora, struggling to piece together why the child was found in such poor condition without having been robbed. The king swears and rambles demands Ralis is incapable of answering, revealing his desperate hunt for any trace of his people, his grief over their loss, his anxious thoughts of children left behind when he was executed... and Illia of Ordon listens to the strange words of the dark sorcerer, understanding nothing but his anger, his urgency, and his exhaustion..._

Page 90

_Fishnet sings the [Song of Goldtusk](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21914317/chapters/53820556) for Zelda, and Halfhorn struggles to translate the tale of how Hyrule captured and subdued Ganondorf, casting him into a prison of Twilight. Blackscarf clarifies that the Zelda of song is not her, but an ancestor. Zelda sits in lotus to hear them, enraptured..._

* * *

Page 91

_Ganondorf retreats to Hyrule Field for a midnight ride. He reflects on his uncomfortable attraction to - and admiration of - Zelda, and her upsetting similarities to Windblade. He tries to discipline his thoughts to onley the war, the struggle to undermine Zant and reclaim his own freedom in the mortal world in full. In solitude he sits under a tree to embroider the ancient heraldry of his vanished people...._

* * *

Page 92

_Fishnet continues to recite histories for Zelda, explaining how the gods abandoned and cursed their homeland in the wake of Ganondorf's execution, and how the Geldo' vanished from their former settlements. Zelda listens and asks many questions, seeking to understand the vanished people from whom Ganondorf came. They tell many stories, late into the night - perhaps for many nights, sitting before her fire while she perches in descending lotus on her canopy bed to hear. _

_At last she decides a bold course of action, drafting a letter in careful Geld'o script, seeking alliance and peace. _

_Ganondorf is surprised when Halfhorn brings a sealed envelope to him in the stables...._


	17. Letters

Page 93

_Letter 1, written in a crisp and articulated version of the Geld'o script, cleanly copied, with formal salutation and closure, sealed with wax and ribbon:_

> O Great Ganondorf-
> 
> In these twilight days, it is vital to remember: the poor blade in hand outshines the perfect relic that is locked away. As you have no interest in making matters easy, I will meet you on this broken field you’ve chosen for us.
> 
> I do not ask you to love Hyrule - I petition for your mercy, Great King.
> 
> Your cold severity would shame the entirety of Snowpeak when you are in ill temper, my king, and you have been too swift to judge today by the measure of yesterday. I may carry the blood of ancient lions and wear the sacred Name, but I am **not** the Zelda you remember.
> 
> If I have made a dire alliance with the exiled Princess of Imps and the Brave Wolf, I will answer for it when there is fact, not merely fear. If you can restore peace and health to my people and my country, I swear I will not challenge your right to keep the throne.
> 
> I will not promise to be **happy** to surrender - but neither will I shrink from necessity, nor will I waste life and effort where a better path lays ready.
> 
> \- Zelda CXLIV

_Letter 2 in reply is a brief, scrawled note on a sindle octavo sheet, uncreased, and perhaps even sent without envelope:_

> For a princess of a “peaceful country” you are **inordinately** fond of studying **war.**

_Letter 3 is written in a bold flourish and informally signed, implying an intimacy between correspondents, but it nonetheless was folded and sealed with wax and ribbon:_

> Know thy enemy.
> 
> \- Z

* * *

Page 94

_The King confirms the Princess’ growing suspicions about who exactly defaced so much of the older parts of the Royal Archive with his commentary… and she finds conversation with “the anonymous critic” provides somewhat less comfort than his antique snark once did. Her muttered aside references an inscription in the margin of the book at the top: _

> _“[if] I could get my hands on you, Daltus [I w]ould bolt the door & beat you senseless. Witchcraft indeed. Pfah!”_

_Letter 1 is closely written in a slanted and regimented hand on a quarto sheet, folded in fourths, and a dagged ribbon was stitched to the top edge to allow an informal closure_

> Princess -

> Setting aside your persistence of spirit and the quaint calligraphy of the self-taught, the substance of your letter reveals only more fluff and foolery. Perhaps you **have** forgotten, with the immediacy of other lives between those days and these. If it is evil to use the power the gods have chosen me to bear, if it is evil to lay my hand on a poorly-managed country to prune away rot and straighten its path, if it is evil to burn the honey-coated trash of a dynasty of theocratic tyrants?
> 
> So be it.
> 
> I do not give one chipped rupee for the opinions of people who build their prisons with arenas to seat thousands.
> 
> And this time?
> 
> **I** have captured **you**, and I am **much** stronger.
> 
> Do not test my patience further.

_Letter 2 was written on a clean quinto sheet and folded nine. It lacks salutation, and has no provision for sealing it:_

> So my ancestors chose evil.
> 
> If Hyrule were not so pressed by the plague of Twilight we could make an easier road, but let us make a new beginning all the same.
> 
> \- Z

_L_ _etter 3 is again written on a quarto sheet, but though the lines are more open, the entire letter slants toward the upper-right. Ribbon was stitched in an X pattern top and bottom, and the page folded in rough thirds which are neither equal nor square to page or text:_

> Princess -
> 
> You cannot wash generations of blood from your hands and wish your way out of facing a harsh truth. Without the challenge of flushing Zant from whatever nest he’s stolen, without the dire circumstance you threw yourself into, you would not seek my company at all, but keep me at some nominally polite distance, chained to courtly manners and degenerate highborn politics while your Council filled your long ears with whispers about dark foreigners with fell magics until you again decreed Light and Shadow to be mortal enemies.
> 
> I doubt it would take long.
> 
> How many more would you send to your Arbiter’s Grounds to convince yourself the gods approve of Hylian “law”?

* * *

Page 95

_The architectural details of the suite the king has chosen for himself are distinctly different from the rest of the dark rococo and late renaissance-Italianate style which dominates the rest of the castle, hinting at a [historically relevant significance](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5363957) in his choice..._

_Letter 1 is drafted on clean quarto sheet, though there is informal emphasis in the letter and the page was folded in irregular but squared-to-page nine. No provision was made for sealing it:_

> Why do you embrace such venom, my king? What have I - **_not Windblade!_** \- done to offend you so deeply? Why do you hate all of Hyrule for the sins of one woman, long dead?

> The argument is over. You have outlived it. What was done in her time is not our way now: Hyrule abandoned the practice of sending the accused into the gods’ hands and expecting them to exert themselves to preserve the innocent. I am sorry my people did not have the lamp of Science to defeat the wights of superstition in the life you remember, but we no longer live in days of wondrous legend where the river of time can be changed, oh my king.

> Whatever price you require to lay down this ancient war, if it is in my gift at all, consider it done if you but give it voice and form.

_Letter 2 was drafted on lined courier stock, the calligraphy crisp, open, and precise, though it retains the distinctive slant and tight flourish. It lacks salutation, closure, and envelope - informality in extremis:_

> You open yourself to grave danger with such an open offer, Princess.
> 
> What would your beloved antique war prince say on this - _nonsense_ you’ve engaged, this wild alliance-?

_Letter 3 is two clean lines without salutation or closure on octavo sheet, folded in the pattern of nine more commonly used for invitations among close acquaintance, and sealed with wax and dagged ribbon in the same style:_

> The perfect stratagem is the enemy of victory.

* * *

Page 96

_Letter 1 is closely written on quarto sheet folded fourths, again with stitched ribbon. Like most of his other letters it lacks salutation or signature, but this one fills the page, leaving scant margin. A fine mist of ink stains the paper._

> You take perverse delight in twisting truth out of all proper order and provoking a torment of distraction with your ill-advised flattery - but I will not further indulge you in your little tricks. In softness hides the poisoned blade.
> 
> Do not mistake me: I have allowed your counsel solely from convenience and objective efficiency, not necessity, nor yet credulity. Where your wisdom aligns with the word of my own spies and scouts, only there I heed it.
> 
> If there is any substance whatever to your claim of some physical desire - which I very much doubt - it can only be a convergence of magic, fever, and the lamentably natural consequence of playing at a double game in close quarters. You will overcome it swiftly enough when our paths diverge.

_Letter 2 preserves more orderly margins and is folded and sealed in the invitational style, but also lacks salutation, and is more heavily ink-stained, from both writing too quickly, and hesitating at the beginning of the line._

> Perhaps you are a little out of practice with “decadent court manners”, given your long absence - your indulgence in bitterness belies your mask of indifference. Whatever perfidy you imagine of me could never hurt if your heart did not prefer matters otherwise.
> 
> I know whereof I write, for your sentence of isolation leaves me little recourse but to watch Zant’s dark magic destroy Hyrule

_Here, she signed with a single initial, and continued below as if in afterthought - and allowed that pause to be seen, rather than recopy her letter cleanly._

> ...and consider too well the shape of the poison barbs you have left in me.
> 
> -Z

* * *

Page 97

_The calligraphy of this letter on deckled rag paper which was folded in roughly equal nines is far more formal than any of his previous notes, and bears one larger iteration of his personal seal:_

> Princess -
> 
> For your hospitality and wit strengthening my campaign I will grant your petition for mercy from the Great King, and give you a secret: [the true last letter of your fabled prince](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27178906), which was lost before the Discourses were compiled, for Zelda Sophia Karsooda Saievaitha Hyrule played their cursed harp to capture and subdue him, took it from his bloody fist, and burned it.
> 
> _ **Love is a weapon which cuts its bearer. ** _
> 
> Whatever the reason your spirit has chosen to lose the knowledge that you sent the Geld’o King to die for the sin of appearing in your nightmares, I return it to you. May the truth bring you all the same joys it has given to me, and my vengeance shall be well wrought.
> 
> _\- Ganondorf Rajenaya Dinauru Chalut Dragmire _
> 
> _Flower of Dawn - Thorn of Dusk_
> 
> _Lord of Thunder - Master of Serpents _
> 
> _Commander of the Sands - Protector of the People_
> 
> _Song of Ancestors - Crown of Ages _
> 
> _King of Light and Shadow_

* * *

Page 98

_Her letter on deckled rag paper in reply bears a curious contrast of his title in an informal salutation, followed by an untidy collection of underlines and curt language… intimate valediction, formal signature, and personal seal in wax over a floral scalloped ribbon:_

> My king -
> 
> If I foresaw you bringing destruction to Hyrule, I would be oathbound to try to avert it, whatever the personal cost. The Prince of the **Discourses** would have at least _entertained_ the _possibility_ of compassion for the demands of duty and conflicted loyalties - I mourn that your misfortunes have withered it.
> 
> The gift of prophecy is not a precise tool by any measure - it is possible she could have received a vision of your actions in this war, and mistaken it for her own. I cannot say with any certainty, **for I am not her**.
> 
> Tell me, oh dark sorcerer - if I _did_ carry some _little shard_ of her ghost as you claim, if she lived and died bearing some malice towards you, then I should feel it, no?
> 
> And yet - I remain,
> 
> Yours & etc -
> 
> \- Zelda CXLIV

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note:  
Zelda’s letters are absolutely referencing the_ Discourses,_ an old epistolary text on war and politics and the general management of one’s home and country, previously mentioned, and also referenced in earlier stories in the [Winds of Twilight series.](https://archiveofourown.org/series/442912) Their correspondence is mostly written in Geld’o, but of course for us I have transcribed it… and attempted to show the tone of their handwriting.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Entanglements](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26361652) by [Folodu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Folodu/pseuds/Folodu)


End file.
